Fannie Mae announced their Buyer's Assistance Program for HomePath Properties that will be in effect from June 14, 2011 thru Oct. 31, 2011.  The program offers up to 3.5% in closing cost assistance to buyers.  Buyers must be owner-occupants (no investors), and the transaction must close by Oct 31st of 2011.  This offer is only good on "HomePath" properties.

Tempe Centerpoint condo towers are no more.  When they were purchased by the Zaremba Group they renamed them West 6th Tempe, and have changed them into apartment homes with a temporary leasing office now open on Mill avenue.  The project will be maintained on my website since future market conditions may again lead to these two buildings with 375 units being offered for sale.

Work has started to finish the long delayed Brownstones at Biltmore.  The development has been purchased by a Canadian company who has decided to rent the townhomes out after completition instead of offering them for sale.  They will revisit that decision when the market improves.

A new clause in some builder contracts require the builder get paid 1 percent every time the home is resold.  This is not something you should agree to however when you go buy your new home.  There is legislation pending to make this practice illegal, and both Fannie and Freddie are considering refusing to buy mortgages that have home resale fees.

The developer of the high rise Centerpoint Condo's in downtown Tempe, Tempe Land Co. LLC filed a motion this week to convert their Chapter 11 Bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 filing.  This will add further delay to a project that has been delayed since the summer of 2008 when the project stopped due to lack of funding from their lender, Mortgages Limited, who then filed Bankruptcy itself.  Tempe Land owes $135 Million to Mortgages Limited.  The project will most likely be sold, and Mortgages Limited will have to decide what to do with two unfinished condo buildings standing in downtown Tempe...stand by for more information from the Bankruptcy courts.

Portland Place, located in downtown Phoenix, has reduced pricing on the last six builder condos and two Penthouses.  The new prices have condos starting from $299,464 for 1,354 square foot units.  The penthouses at 2,829 square feet have been reduced to $868,700.  Portland Place is located in the heart of the Roosevelt Historic District, and is within walking distance to Light Rail.

The still under construction 675 South Lofts in Tempe were to start sales shortly.  However due to the local market conditions the builder decided to lease out the entire project at this time until the economy improves.  Those of you wanting to buy the destinctive upscale Lofts will have to wait!  The builder is working on another project that could start in another year or two that will be less expensive and more "marketable" in this economy!

In the past lenders have not cared if you permitted an addition to your home or not.  However some lenders are now asking for permits as a condition of loan approval.  This has delayed many closings as it has caught all of us off-guard.  If you are buying a home that has had additions added to it over the years, please make sure to put in the contract that the seller will provide a valid permit for each addition.  The seller might have to have it "back permitted", that is have a permit issued for work done 5-20 years ago, and that is not a quick process in some cities, and it is not a free process either!

If you are selling a home with a guest house/casita then you may want to read this!  There is a growing trend among appraisers in the Greater Phoenix area to count the guest house/casita square footage with LESS value per square foot than the main house.  The standard practice has always been to count the guest house/casita square footage as the same as the main house per square foot.  Your home may not be worth the amount you think!

A downtown Phoenix high rise development next to Chase Field is now facing foreclosure on the 74 unsold units.  The developer of Summit at Copper Square, W Developments has sold 91 of the total 165 units.  Sterns Bank issued a Notice of Trustees sale on the unsold units last Friday for a sale to the highest bidder on October 14th.  The developer and bank could work out an agreement before the Oct. 14th date, only time will tell.

Century Plaza in midtown Phoenix is also in talks with the bank and investors about the unsold units there and is basically shut down for the moment; and one cannot help wonder how much longer 44 Monroe which has had similiar low sales figures the past year can hold out.